Elderly people can suffer severe and debilitating injuries from falls, particularly in an environment, such as the home where many elderly live without constant supervision. Many injuries occur in the bathroom where standing water and tile combine to create a very slippery surface. Moreover, showers and baths provide other significant potential sites of falls for the same reasons.
While the above problems are exacerbated by age, these problems are not unique to the elderly, even though they may occur with more frequency among the elderly. Young children and adults of all ages can face similar injuries due to falls while in the bathroom, shower, bath, pool or the like.
There exist shoes to prevent slipping. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,283 discloses shoes and shoe outsoles for wet surfaces. However, this shoe cannot be worn in the shower or bath. U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,643 also discloses non-slip footwear, but cannot be worn in the bath or shower.
Sandals exist for use in wet areas, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,836, which discloses footwear in the form of a sandal. But sandals can be easily dislodged from one's foot.
Surfing footwear exists, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,894. But this footwear is not practical for walking and moving around in a shower, for example.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a method and apparatus for reducing the risk of falling in a shower, bath, pool or the like.